 Swetha Manimuthu earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Anna University in Chennai, India, and her Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. Below she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.
What is your specific area of STEM? Electrical Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? Electricity powers every equipment and technology that you come across in your day-to-day activity. Electrical engineering involves generating electricity, transmitting electricity from where it was created to where it is used, and developing equipment that uses electricity to improve our lives. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Curiosity. Even as a child, I was known to ask a lot of questions and to want to look at everything that was kept on a shelf until my curiosity was appeased. ‘Why is it like this? Why does it do that?’ are some of the typical questions that my father had to contend with on a drive with me. Besides, I was more interested in my brother's home science projects than mine in middle school – his involved building a lamp! A natural aptitude for mathematics & science is an additional trait which may indicate a proficiency for STEM fields. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I did not know much about electrical engineering as a child except that it had something to do with electricity. But even as a kid, I would take on little projects such as building a lamp, stringing together LEDs with a battery and such. My focus was more on astrophysics growing up and I enjoyed learning about the universe, the big bang theory, and progress in rockets made by the Indian Space and Research Organization. Transition from physics to electrical engineering was smooth and I moved to bread boards and resistors from lamps and LEDs. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? Electrical engineering is an integral part of what makes our world function. Even the medical field has improved leaps and bounds with the invention of scanning and imaging equipment. It was an easy decision for me to take electrical engineering because I knew I could work in any industry with electrical engineering. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Electrical engineering is the foundation for every technology we have. A world without electricity will be dark (literally)! Some of the cool things that me and my friends have done:
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? With STEM, the world is open to you! Thank you for contributing, Swetha!
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 Kaitlyn Bunker earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Kaitlyn’s background includes a focus in power systems, power electronics, controls and microgrids, along with a passion for increasing efficiency and renewable sources of energy. Below she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.
What is your specific area of STEM? Electrical Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? You might use electricity every day when you turn on the lights or use a computer. In my work as an electrical engineer, I design systems to make sure that you have electricity available when you need it, and that is comes from clean and low-cost resources. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Curiosity, creativity, an interest in helping others. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? My Dad is a mechanical engineer, designing the system in your car that decides whether an airbag is needed if you are in a crash. My Mom is a biochemist, managing a research laboratory focused on understanding arthritis. From them, I knew that I was interested in a STEM field, but I didn't know what specific type until I was older. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? My parents both inspired me with their examples of STEM careers, and I knew that as an engineer I would have the opportunity to help other people, which is something I always wanted to be able to do through my career. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Go to the top of a brand new wind turbine. Design a solar energy system that will bring electricity to people who have never had it before. Travel to new places and find creative solutions to bring them clean, low-cost electricity. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Go for it! With a STEM degree, you are opening so many opportunities for yourself. You can start in one STEM field and move to another, all with a great STEM foundation. If you're interested, go for it and find some aspect of STEM that fits your passions. Thank you for contributing, Kaitlyn! Lisa Brezee earned her Electrical Engineering degree from Southern Polytechnic State University. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.
What is your specific area of STEM? Electronics Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? My field is involved in every aspect of your life from cell phones to refrigerators. We improve the quality of people's lives by making items used in daily life faster and less likely to break two months after you paid a gazillion dollars for it. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Curiosity on how things work. Lego mindstorm. Desire to beat any video game. Any activity that involves teamwork -- sports, Girl Scouts, science clubs. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? My mom taught me the Ramblin' Wreck song (Georgia Tech) when I was in elementary school. And I took everything apart; much to my mother's dismay. But she supported it even though I could not always put everything back together. I liked everything that involved electricity. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? My brother went into electrical engineering via the military so I followed along. It looked like fun..and it was. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on?
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? STEM takes smarts, drive, guts and dreams. All qualities that at which girls excel. Thank you for contributing, Lisa!  Anne Costolanski earned her degree in Applied Mathematics from North Carolina State University and now works as an electrical engineer. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.
What is your specific area of STEM? Applied Math/Electrical Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I write and test computer programs that model the behavior of radar systems. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Enjoying playing with numbers, calculators, or solving math problems. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I didn't know anything about my STEM field when I was young. My interest in math was sparked by an elementary school teacher, who advanced me from the 2nd grade math group to the 3rd grade math group. Then in 7th grade I had a wonderful pre-algebra teacher who really instilled a love for the subject in me. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I chose to get a math degree because I'd always loved math. I ended up being an engineer because I also liked physics, and it was a great combination of math and physics. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? People I work with travel to interesting places to test radars -- sometimes they visit big navy ships, or travel to Arizona or Alaska. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Follow your passion and do what you love, and don't let anyone discourage you! Thank you for contributing, Anne!  Kathy Bowland earned her Master’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.
What is your specific area of STEM? Electrical Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I work with electricity to make things or solve problems, like getting Wifi/the internet to work in your house or making a television. In a piece of equipment, there are a lot of electric circuit boards, which directs electricity to go along certain paths to do specific things - like light up a TV. LED. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Curiosity, creativity, patience, spatial awareness. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I never really did any STEM activities as a child other than developing spatial awareness through Spirograph drawing toys and learning to read maps. My dad was always there to answer questions if I had any but I was never forced to do STEM activities. I joined science club for 1 year in 6th grade and had a great time experimenting with the science equipment after school with my friends where there were no grades and no pressure to complete an activity in front of my peers. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I took a physics class in high school and I loved it! Circuits were so fun - like puzzles. My high school physics teacher also had us think up experiments to prove physical laws, which was pretty cool. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Make videos in simulations (...ok, this doesn't sound cool but the videos are pretty great!), measure things outdoors and in anechoic chambers. I can also build antenna to make things fancier at home - improve the wifi in a room of the house or build a directional antenna to more easily capture over the air signals (google ‘cantenna’ for that one!). What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? If you're at all interested in STEM, I really encourage you to look at the careers available. There is a HUGE variety of jobs! From big-picture teamwork activities in a manufacturing plant to tinkering by yourself in a lab, you can find a job that really plays to your strengths where you can excel. Thank you for contributing, Kathy! |
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